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Abhay (Thriller Movie ,2001)  Starring
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Synopsis
Faces can sometimes be deceptive. Kamal Hassan’s latest offering “Abhay” is a gripping thriller about two twin brothers who, although
identical in their appearance, are entirely different individuals.
The film has Kamal Hassan in a double role (he has played at least 20 dual roles in films so far) and the ravishing Raveena as a suave
newsreader. Nepalese lass Manisha Koirala too plays a glossy cameo in the film.
Based on the novel “Daayam” written by Kamal Hassan and directed by Suresh Krishna “Abhay” is at its core the story of an intrepid
Major of National Security Guards Vijay Kumar (Kamal Hassan) and his demented twin brother Abhay (Kamal Hassan again, although brawny
and sans moustache).
Vijay is a highly decorated commando who was raised by his maternal uncle. He has shown his valor in many important security missions
and does not hesitate in pulling the trigger when necessary. On one such hijack rescue mission Vijay impresses upon a NDTV newscaster
Tejaswini (Raveena) with his intelligence, tactics and presence of mind.
Love sprouts between the two and comes to full blossom. Vijay and Tejaswini decide to tie the knot. But before that Vijay wants her to
meet the only near-and-dear in his life his demented twin brother Abhay who has been incarcerated in the mental asylum since the
young age of twelve for killing his stepmom.
Since then he has been ostracized by the society and labeled as a psychotic killer.
There is a sad story to the brothers’ past. Vijay and Abhay’s father Lt. Col. Santosh Kumar (Milind Gunaji) was a characterless and an
alcoholic soldier who was infamous for embezzling money in his army section. His careless ways forced his wife to the point of
suicide.
Rather than bereaved at his wife’s death he took in another woman Jayanti (Kitu Gidwani) as the little children’s (Vijay and Abhay’s)
stepmom.
But the children did not approve of their new mother, particularly Abhay, who was driven to the point of hysteria. He killed his
stepmom. And the killer child grew up into a fearless psychopath killer.
However, from the beginning Vijay has always held affection for Abhay in his heart and has tried to free his brother but has met
failure all the time. Before he marries he wants Tejaswini to meet Abhay. But this one meeting will change the entire course of events
in their life???
Review
Director of “Abhay”, Suresh Krishna, has dabbled a little too much in technology – the digitally generated visual effects – and
pyrotechnics to give a Hollywoodian look to the film. Thirru’s cinematography is innovative and engages the viewer, so does the
riveting special effects by George Merkert and Ian Johnson.
But none of these can substitute a good story and subtle direction.
The truth is, Abhay’s script is packed with many absurdities. To keep the audience interest from flagging, Kamal has interspersed his
vapid story with inane songs and frequent fight sequences.
Besides, there are many unexplained-for turns and twists in the story line. For instance, after his escape from the mental asylum,
Abhay, who has been incarcerated for good many years, goes about all primed up in snazzy outfits painting the town red (literally).
Then, out of the blue it dawns on him that the root cause of all the evil that is done to him is just one person – Tejaswini – and she
should die.
Thereby begins the inevitable tussle between the twins. And as the norm is, the good one wins in the end.
Being an actor who has remarkable control and manipulation of his body, Kamal plays the psychotic Abhay and his alter ego Vijay (both
alike and yet the antithesis of each other) with conviction. However, his portrayal of Abhay is a bit dreary.
Clad in zaniest dresses he makes more of a hip-hop rapper out of the Abhay rather than a megalomaniac on the run. Particularly comical
is the long sniff and the sudden crick of neck that precede his phantasmagoric trips and his killing sprees.
As far as acting goes, Raveena matches Kamal and cuts a niche with her subtle emotive range. Now she is a suave Newsreader, now a
vulnerable fiancee and now a prospective victim to a deranged psychopath.
Manisha Koirala on the other hand is wasted in a just-for-the-heck-of-it role that seems to have been written deliberately to add some
oomph quotient in an otherwise chaste story.
Rating: Averag